Draemon
by Yin Long Nocturne
Summary: Something strange occured on Harry's 14th birthday and now he has giant and volatile secret he has to hide from the rest of Hogwarts. Not to mention Voldemort. Creature!Fic. Not Vampire/Veela/Dragle/Dracken Mostly Cannon with a few differences.
1. Inheritance

Ch.1 – Inheritance

It was July 30th, the eve of Harry's birthday. The day had begun like any other – the Dursleys had assigned him an incredulous amount of chores, but had otherwise ignored him, just as they had ever since he'd told them that his godfather was a 'convicted mass murderer'. All in all there was nothing to suggest that that night something would occur that would irrevocably change Harry Potter's life. Forever.

The clock was slowly ticking closer and closer to midnight. Much too slowly, in Harry Potter's humble opinion. The pace of time was agonisingly slow. All Harry wanted was for the clock to chime 12:00 am. Midnight.

Unfortunately, Harry never saw those numbers, because as midnight struck, he was overcome with a sudden, consuming pain. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before – nothing could even remotely equal the agony he was experiencing. It was like someone was flaying the skin off his body and then dipping him into a vat of acid before breaking every bone in his body and resetting them in quick succession.

The bit about bones breaking was pretty accurate, actually. Harry's bones _were_ breaking, and lengthening. That was what was causing the immense pain, the breaking and resetting, of all 206 of them, and once that was finished, his new appendages broke through.

At this point Harry had passed out, so he didn't see the flash of light, or hear the cracking of an ominous rumble of thunder in the perfectly clear skies. He did, however, hear the book thumping down on his floor. It woke him up.

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I jump when I hear something thud to the floor, automatically reaching for my wand, only to groan in pain as my muscles protest. Tensing then relaxing again, I start trying to move. Starting with my fingers and toes, I slowly regain movement and control over my aching limbs.

When I can move without flinching, I reach for my wand on the bedside table, although I know my paranoia isn't justified – if there is an attacker in the room, I'd already be dead. My fingers close loosely around the smooth wood, and I turn to face the rest of the room. Nothing is out of place, but there is a book lying in the middle of the floor, covered in a thin layer of dust.

I cautiously move towards it, wand brandished. I crouch down beside it and stare at it for several long moments before finally deciding that if it wanted to curse me, it would have done so before when I was unarmed, so I pick it up.

Stowing my wand in my back pocket, I move back toward the bed and seat myself comfortably against the headboard and begin to examine the outside of the book. The cover is old and worn with age, the title barely legible, but when I open it, the inner pages are in pristine condition. Written in blood red ink on heavy parchment, the beautiful script meanders across the pages in a delicate design. I stare, because this is like no language I have ever seen before; full of curlicues, accents and subtle waves, it looks more like art than simple script. And yet as I stare, the opulent script begins to decipher itself, slowly uncurling its meaning in my mind. Reading it is effortless now, contrary to how it had been so illegible a few moments ago.

The first page is full of names, one after the other and in no semblance of order. I try to read them, but I'm distracted by a flicker in the corner of my vision. Again, there's a flash of black and red. I twist around, trying to locate the mysterious shape.

What I see shocks me to the core. Behind me is a tail, quite like a lion's, but black and red, swishing slowly. As I stare it stills, then the end comes up to my hand and flickers over it, almost like it has a mind of its own. I jerk back as if burnt. That tail belongs to me.

I inch back around, hoping somewhere deep in my mind that this is all just a horrible nightmare, but that same place is telling me that it's no dream. This is real. As if sensing my distress, my tail curls itself around my waist, and I find that the gesture is oddly comforting.

I turn back to face the book, and realize that in my distress I disrupted it and it had fallen open to a page partway through. I pick it up curious, at the secrets it might hold. I am no stranger to secrets, as I live in one most of the year.

_Greetings young Dræmon,_

_If you are reading this book then, miraculously, one of our offspring have survived, and you have had enough magical power to activate the dormant genes. It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that you will probably never see another of your kind._

_I say your kind because you are unique. I suppose I ought to introduce myself. I am Lilith, Goddess of Hell and ruler over Dæmonkind. Your father was Draconical Larena, King of Draconic Races. We were the only pairing of our kind._

_ Firstly, I must say that if you have any extra appendages, do not worry. You should. If my predictions are correct you should have a tail, horns and wings. There may be slight changes to your ears, nails, eyes and overall physique._

_You tail should be mammalian, like that of a lion. Your wings will be leathery, inherited from your Draconic father. The horns are from me, they should curve backwards following the natural curve of your skull. If you ears change, they will become slightly pointed. Your eyes; and nails, will change with extreme emotion. Your eyes will turn black and your nails should lengthen and turn red. The colour will depend on your mood, with the black and red tones representing anger._

_Overall, you should be taller, definitely over six feet, and your senses will sharpen. You may gain telepathy, empathy, lure or thrall._

_Now sleep my child, the changing will have tired you out. You may read more the next day._

_Lilith_

_Goddess of Hell_

_Ruler over Dæmonkind_

To say that Harry was shocked was an understatement. In fact catatonic would be more accurate. He stared at the book for 5 whole minutes before he put it down and followed his ancestor's advice and slept.

A/N: Wow! First chapter! I've read countless creature fics but was never quite sure how to do it myself. Anyway an idea struck me to do a fourth year creature fic. I haven't seen many with Harry coming into his inheritance before the last years of school or after Voldemort was defeated, so I thought I'd give it a go.

Then came the problem of creating a creature [I didn't feel like going with something generic and I didn't want to steal someone else's] so I came up with _Dræmon. _Dragon Demon hybrids. I'm not going to tell you about them, mostly cause I'm making this up as I go along. But you'll learn more as Harry reads more passages out of the book as the summer progresses If you do spot any inconsistencies, please tell me in a review or PM and I'll try to correct it..

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Okay I've just finished ch. 2 and I've a few minor changes to formatting - the written text is now _italics and underlined, w_hereas Harry's thoughts are just _italics_.

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This is the beta'd version, many thanks to my wonderful beta.

~ Yin


	2. Soul Call

Formatting Notes :  
Writing - Italics and Underlined  
Harry's Thoughts - Italics

Dræmon Ch. 2 Soul Call

I stir slowly. It must be the morning of August the first, for when I finally slept it was already early morning. I can't quite remember the events of the night before, something about a book, but it's fuzzy and I'm still hovering on the borderline between wakefulness and sleep. The minute I open my eyes, though, I remember.

The book! 'I'm a creature! A hybrid and I'm supposedly the last in the world. Trust my luck to land me with something like this,' I think, resting a hand on my temple to try to stave off my slowly growing headache. ' And I thought my life was complicated with Voldemort after me.' I sigh heavily. 'From what I can remember, creatures of any kind are generally treated with disdain in the Wizarding World, and the mere fact the name of my species sounds even remotely like demon means I'll be even less welcome."

I look around my 'room' for the book. It's lying innocently on the floor, next to my bed. 'Hopefully it will have some answers'. In my haste to find the book, I forget about my extra appendages, and as I lean out of my bed to grab the book off the floor, my wings flare out to stabilize me and my tail does the same. 'Wait! I have wings too!' I tumble forward in shock, the book temporarily forgotten. 'I knew I had a tail, but WINGS!' then I remember that the book had said something about wings, and horns too 'now that I think of it…where's that bloody book!"

A few minutes of scrambling to find the book again – it had been knocked under my bed when I fell – and trying to calm myself down enough to read it properly, I'm able to settle in to read the first chapter. The first page of this chapter is the page of names, which doesn't offer much. Hoping for more answers, I turn to the next page. This one starts with a much-needed explanation:

To my descendant,

I write this book with my wife in the hopes that it will explain all you need to know, and how to survive wherever you may be. The previous page is something of a family tree, as I am unsure if any of our other offspring survived to have their own children, but the family tree will tell you. I will elaborate more on that in the Allies & Enemies chapter.

This book contains the following:  
(I apologize for the strange titles, my wife has a unique sense of humour.)

Extra Bits - New Appendages  
Strange Cravings – Diet  
Mating  
Emotional Control – IMPORTANT  
Blending In – Concealment  
Culture & Customs  
Allies & Enemies – Who to Avoid  
Magic and Abilities – New Powers

It also contains various letters, memories and other bits and pieces from members of our family.

I would suggest you start with sections 1, 2 and 4 to help you learn about your new appearance, then sections 5 and 7 before you go out in public for an extended amount of time.

With my greatest affections,  
Draconical Larena,  
King of the Draconic Races

"Well, I'd best take his advice. Let's see what's in section one," I mutter under my breath.

When I open the book to section one I am immediately sucked into a memory, pulled forward into the book's very pages. 'At least I think it's a memory. I didn't know books could hold memories though,' I think absentmindedly to myself.

I land in a large stone chamber. There is a circle of fire spread around the perimeter, and a natural hot spring is situated in its centre.

"Welcome young one," comes a deep and soothing voice from behind me.

I whirl around, my hand reaching automatically for my wand, forgetting I don't have it with me.

"I didn't mean to startle you, brother." The speaker is a tall, dark skinned male, covered in swirling tribal tattoos. He has horns curving out from his head, his majestic wings are stretched out wide behind him, and the tip of his tail is peeking out over his foot. "My name is Marick. I am, probably, your many times great uncle."

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter," I say, still suspicious of this man and the room I'm now in. "Is this a memory? How am I here? I was reading the book just a moment ago."

"Ah, that was a nifty piece of magic my sister created. Throughout this book are sections that are linked to a 'Soul Call'." Seeing my confusion, he continues, "A 'Soul Call' is a very tricky piece of runic soul magic that calls souls temporarily from the realm of the dead into the realm of the living to converse with the caller. The only flaw is that you have to blood related to the person you are calling."

"So what you're saying is that every so often, when I'm reading this book, I'll be calling members of our family back from the afterlife?" I am incredulous, and I'm sure it's showing on my face, but I couldn't care less right now.

"Yes, that is basically what you're doing now as we speak. We are here to help you and for you to ask questions without fear of retribution. As the caller, you are protected from any physical harm by us, and no time passes during the duration of our conversations, so it won't affect your everyday life."

"Right," I say, feeling slightly faint as I take in the onslaught of information.

"Why don't you take a dip in the hot springs? You look like you could use some relaxation," he says, concern in his eyes. I obey in a half-daze, sinking into the warm waters of the hot spring, barely pausing to transfigure my clothes in something more appropriate. I sigh in rapture. The temperature is perfect and the gentle lapping of small waves on the pool's surface is soothing me into a sort of content feeling for the first time in months. 'Maybe even years.' I open my eyes to see Marick watching me with a wistful smile on his face. He must have realized that I caught him staring because he says, by means of explanation, "You remind of my little brother. He often came here to recuperate after a long day. He said it helped him relax his wings."

"Oh," I say quietly. "What was he like?"

"He was rambunctious, even well into his mature years – a child at heart. He was always involved in some scheme or other, generally with his best friend Kaylis. Rarely would you see Deivan without Kaylis; they were nigh inseparable." Marick sighs, his eyes distant. "We found out later that they were soul-bonded twins."

"Soul-bonded twins?" I ask curiously.

"There are many kinds of soul bonds," he says, "The twin bond is just one of them. Twin bonds occur naturally in identical magical twins. Actually, the name is something of a misnomer, as this kind of bond can happen between any number of identical siblings. We don't know much about how they actually happen. Many have theorized that it happens in the womb, that the mother's magic and the unborn siblings react to something. The bond manifests itself, usually, in telepathic bonds, empathic bonds or locator links. Devian and Kaylis had the rarest type of bond, a 'shared pain' bond. A shared pain bond is like it sounds. When one is hurt or injured, the other shares his pain."

"You said they were best friends, though, not twins?"

"Yes. Their father separated them after their mother died in the hopes that the bond wouldn't continue to develop into a shared pain bond."

" Why would he do something like that...!"

"Because when one twin of a shared pain bond dies, the other either dies with them or commits suicide from the loss and pain."

They sat in silence, one absorbed by memories of a long lost past and the other trying frantically to assimilate the new, and frightening, information he had been given.

This chapter cuts of in a bit of a strange place. More about Kaylis and Devian will be explained in the next chapter .


End file.
